3 comments:

bernard
said...

Bravo: excellent article with which I couldn't agree more. Your description of Boris Johnson is both hilarious and spot on. Just one note of caution: from my six years in the UK in the 1990s, I remember concluding that British polling was of generally appalling quality, perhaps like Iowa polling. Either the electorate was especially fickle or the papers didn't spend the amount they should for serious polling.

Two points.First, there's a French plan underway right now to close the Jungle. The idea, apparently, is to bulldoze the camp and process those in it, offering either settlement in France or deportation elsewhere under Dublin rules. A judicial ruling setting the plan in motion was expected this past week, but was postponed. The assumption is it won't be postponed for long. Second, I'd argue the most substantial concession extracted by Cameron wasn't on ever closer union. I think most people see that as symbolic, although it may help to steer precedent in the ECJ. Rather, it was the one François Hollande had most difficulty with - the problem of eurozone ins and outs and the management of business between them.

Overall, your piece is excellent. You're exactly right to focus on the Tory party's neurotic internal politics. It's been a source of nonsense on Europe for a long time, caused huge damage in the 90's, and is working its foul magic again.Your excursions outside French politics have all been good reads. Can I suggest a piece to pitch? A comparison of first-round/second-round Le Pen/Chirac with primary/general Trump/Clinton.

One small request. You wouldn't refer to cheese eating surrender monkeys. If you possibly can, leave talk of perfidious Albion to limpwitted nationalists. It sits far better with them.

Thanks for an excellent article. For those of us here in the UK puzzled by Boris Johnson's motivation a little illumination is to be found on Pride's Purge blog https://tompride.wordpress.com/2016/02/27/boris-johnson-bankrolled-by-hedge-fund-managers-set-to-gain-250m-a-year-from-brexit/#like-38313

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I have been a student and observer of French politics since 1968. In that time I've translated more than 130 books from the French, including Tocqueville's Democracy in America and Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century. I chair the seminar for visiting scholars at Harvard's Center for European Studies and am a member of the editorial board of French Politics, Culture, and Society and of The Tocqueville Review/La revue Tocqueville. You can read some of my writing on French politics and history here and a short bio here. From time to time I will include posts by other students of France and French politics (accessible via the index link "guest"). My hope is that this site will become a gathering place for all who are interested in discussing and analyzing political life in France. You can keep track of posts on Twitter by following "artgoldhammer".